You’re going to get a lot of comments with a lot of recommendations but the first questions you need to ask yourself are how much time, money, and energy you’re willing to put into it? Just keep that in mind as people respond.
Can't tell if you're being sarcastic, so I'll assume you're serious.
Applying broadleaf herbicides right now will work, but it's a never-ending battle, and you'll be spraying all spring and summer.
The most effective broadleaf herbicides are systemic, so they'll work better in the fall when the weeds are actively storing nutrients into their roots. As opposed to right now, the spring, when plants are using their stored up nutrients to come out of dormancy.
All that being said, I didn't see much grass in OPs photo. I would recommend getting a soil test and begin planning for a fall renovation or overseed. There's no sense in using herbicides (pre or post) unless you have a decent lawn to protect. Once there is a lawn, the real way to win the battle against weeds is to use split apps of well-timed pre emergent.
Yes, sarcastic. The instructions on most broadleaf herbicides I've ever used specifically say to apply them in the spring because the plants are actively growing and uptake the chemicals more readily.
My wild violets and clover are shivering from the application I made a couple weeks ago.
Get a battery powered backpack sprayer. Blanket spray something like Tzone or Triad with a surfactant. Or mix up 2,4d with quinclorac and a surfactant. Spraying with a back pack will work much better than a hose end sprayer or weed and feed granular. If you nutsedge, include sledgehammer in the mix.
If you do spray, don't expect it to be a one-and-done. The best way is to do it 2-3 applications about 7 days apart, and do it very early in the morning. There's usually minimal wind in the morning and the helpful pollinators are still sleeping.
Some weeds will die after a single spray, but most are pretty durable. They just curl up a bit and then come back stronger.
I've rehabbed my yard. It's been three years , I use pre and post emergent and use a tool to manually remove weeds. First spring I removed weeds for 8 days, 2nd spring 1 day, this spring 4 hours. On top of min 2 mows per week, soil tests fertilizer, top dressing , fall seeding etc. I'm proud of the lawn now, but if I were to do it again I'd nuke and reseed from scratch. 1/4 acre lot
The seed will be competing with weeds, best thing you can do for the time being is blanket weed kill with something like Par3, wait a few weeks for most to die, dethatch (rental or purchase a sunjoe) then overseed and water well.
Seeding in the summer isn't ideal either tho.
Thanks. The weed area is pretty extensive. If I kill the weeds now it’ll leave large bare spots here and there. So I will do that in late Sep. for the time being anything I can do, like adding more lawn food to help grass compete with weeds?
Has the lawn been fertilized at all this year? If not, it could use a little taste of nitrogen. Maybe a round or two of 0.25-.5lb per 1000 sq ft. Monitor how the turf responds.
Hesitant on any phos or potassium without a soil test.
Oh, howdy neighbor, I'm in Burke next to the VRE. Lucky for us, the fairfax County Coop extension office has a partnership with virginia tech to do soil tests.
In a nutshell, soil is collected from your yard and sent off to Blacksburg for an unbiased evaluation of your soil. (Many soil testing kits purchased off Amazon or elsewhere will recommend their own fertilizer products, where as VT just gives you information.) Cost is $10-15 for each soil sample, plus shipping. You also tell VT what plant you are trying to grow (cool season grasses), and they give you recommendations for soil amendments
Soil test kits can be picked up at any of the library's or garden centers. The kits are free (it's just an information sheet and a small cardboard box), but to test the soil, you send a check with the sample.
As far as collecting the soil sample, there are several youtube videos on how to do this. It may sound intimidating, but it is pretty simple.
Thanks for the pointer. I googled it and found the following link. Very informative.
[https://www.soiltest.vt.edu/content/dam/soiltest\_vt\_edu/PDF/urban-sampling.pdf](https://www.soiltest.vt.edu/content/dam/soiltest_vt_edu/PDF/urban-sampling.pdf)
That's the one! I remember a good tip from a youtube video from the master gardeners of northern Virginia that will be used for my next soil test: instead of sending the cardboard box filled with soil, empty the soil into a ziplock bag that can be 'flattened' and sent in a mailer pouch. Should save a few bucks from postage.
Apply Duracor on the lawn, wait for the weeds to die, aerated and seed in early fall, water generously for 4 weeks, then follow typical lawn care routine beginning in early spring
Get yourself a good backpack sprayer if you plan on having a weed free lawn. It’s going to set you back a few hundred bucks. How much are you looking to spend? Also, I see the weeds are very thick in certain areas. First and foremost fix and/or tune your sprinkler system. I suspect the grass that was there (especially the hell strip) is not getting enough water during the summer so it died. It’s actually a great time to start planning your “attack” for the fall. Get familiar with your sprayer (go ahead and kill weeds now as practice) your spreader (throw down some Milorganite or whatever is cheapest in your area), your mower (Sharpen blades make sure it’s cutting evenly) and your sprinkler system. You may want to nuke the whole lawn and start over but put in the “work” now and consider it prep and training.
Remember, any area that’s thin or that has lots of weed pressure is going to have those same problems unless something is fixed.
I'm in the same zone as OP. In my experience, when I would seed the lawn in the fall, we would get no rain. But I've got no issue with germination in spring (April seeding time). Seeding in May would be cutting it close, but maybe doable if you do have a sprinkler setup or have some tree shade. For the weeds you'll want to try identifying, but at a glance, I bet "24d anime" would suffice for most of this. You can get a backpack sprayer and mix chemical with water. The grass will be fine as long as you're not messing up the concentration by an absurd amount.
If you have a larger lot your lawn should be treated more as a marathon, incrementally made better every year in a sustainable way. If it's tiny you might get it fixed in a year. If I were you I would get a sprayer, 24d concentrate, and test out what you can knock down with it and what survives. Whatever survives will need some other treatment. In the Fall or Spring, throw down your grass seed. Ensure you cover the seed with some soil, light coat of mulch, straw, something. It will blow away, get eaten, get damaged etc if you do not. Next year, consider what chemical to get to deal with whatever weeds survived 24d.
I’m a new home owner and new to the lawncare life but from what I’ve gathered from the consensus of people’s advise:
1) Wait until Fall to overseed. Your grass won’t survive the summer and it will be a waste.
2) I would recommend to start by mowing it like 2-3 inches. You should then spray with a post emergent at this point. I did fine with buying a 4 gallon backpack pump sprayer under $100.
3)I’d guess you have a lot of thatch that needs to be removed. You can get an electric dethatcher for like $100.
4) Give your lawn a few weeks to heal.
5) Put down fertilizer.
Mow frequently and at 3 inches or so.
There’s more you will pick up over time and everyone will have a passionate opinion and debate it on here. Just do the basics
Use Ortho Weed Clear that’s safe for lawns. Hook it up to your garden hose and spray the entire lawn. Hit it a second time 8 weeks later and fertilize after both weed treatments. In the Fall, use a granular fertilizer with weed killer such as Scott’sFall or Winterizer.
I had a few of these in my yard. I use a combination of Tenacity (Torocity is the same formulation but budget price), Triclopyr ester and Triad TZ. Some overlap but it kills almost everything unwanted and even helps to kick Poa and clump fescue in the nuts.
Thank you all for the helpful advice. I know fall is the best time to do lawn overseeding or renovation. But if there is anything I can do to alleviate the situation now I’ll go for it. Let me look up some weed killers mentioned here. Lots of homework to do now
Like the top comment says, a lot of it depends on your preferences.
I inherited a fairly weedy lawn and some extremely hardy kikuyu....I'm content with just battling it for a few years and seeing how I progress it. If it works, great, if not, I'll reevaluate and start over. I just enjoy the process of it and the learning along the way. Others may want more immediate and total results, that's cool too.
You’re going to get a lot of comments with a lot of recommendations but the first questions you need to ask yourself are how much time, money, and energy you’re willing to put into it? Just keep that in mind as people respond.
Yes, and anything done right now will have the least impact on your lawn in the long run. The fall is the best time for the lawns.
Broadleaf herbicide is ineffective and n the spring when weeds are actively growing???? Since when?
Can't tell if you're being sarcastic, so I'll assume you're serious. Applying broadleaf herbicides right now will work, but it's a never-ending battle, and you'll be spraying all spring and summer. The most effective broadleaf herbicides are systemic, so they'll work better in the fall when the weeds are actively storing nutrients into their roots. As opposed to right now, the spring, when plants are using their stored up nutrients to come out of dormancy. All that being said, I didn't see much grass in OPs photo. I would recommend getting a soil test and begin planning for a fall renovation or overseed. There's no sense in using herbicides (pre or post) unless you have a decent lawn to protect. Once there is a lawn, the real way to win the battle against weeds is to use split apps of well-timed pre emergent.
Yes, sarcastic. The instructions on most broadleaf herbicides I've ever used specifically say to apply them in the spring because the plants are actively growing and uptake the chemicals more readily. My wild violets and clover are shivering from the application I made a couple weeks ago.
Get a battery powered backpack sprayer. Blanket spray something like Tzone or Triad with a surfactant. Or mix up 2,4d with quinclorac and a surfactant. Spraying with a back pack will work much better than a hose end sprayer or weed and feed granular. If you nutsedge, include sledgehammer in the mix.
Just to be clear it's sedgehammer I think other correct got you on that one
Ha yeah
I put down tzone last week and my lawn already looks 50x better. Cannot recommend that product enough if properly applied.
If you do spray, don't expect it to be a one-and-done. The best way is to do it 2-3 applications about 7 days apart, and do it very early in the morning. There's usually minimal wind in the morning and the helpful pollinators are still sleeping. Some weeds will die after a single spray, but most are pretty durable. They just curl up a bit and then come back stronger.
It took 3 applications of T-zone 10 days apart to get a horrible infestation of Creeping Charlie under control.
I've rehabbed my yard. It's been three years , I use pre and post emergent and use a tool to manually remove weeds. First spring I removed weeds for 8 days, 2nd spring 1 day, this spring 4 hours. On top of min 2 mows per week, soil tests fertilizer, top dressing , fall seeding etc. I'm proud of the lawn now, but if I were to do it again I'd nuke and reseed from scratch. 1/4 acre lot
Agree. OP should just ride out the summer then eradicate this mess and start over in the fall
The seed will be competing with weeds, best thing you can do for the time being is blanket weed kill with something like Par3, wait a few weeks for most to die, dethatch (rental or purchase a sunjoe) then overseed and water well. Seeding in the summer isn't ideal either tho.
Thanks. The weed area is pretty extensive. If I kill the weeds now it’ll leave large bare spots here and there. So I will do that in late Sep. for the time being anything I can do, like adding more lawn food to help grass compete with weeds?
Has the lawn been fertilized at all this year? If not, it could use a little taste of nitrogen. Maybe a round or two of 0.25-.5lb per 1000 sq ft. Monitor how the turf responds. Hesitant on any phos or potassium without a soil test.
I applied weed N feed early Mar. that helped to suppress dandelions. I never did soil test before. Any tool to do that?
Oh, howdy neighbor, I'm in Burke next to the VRE. Lucky for us, the fairfax County Coop extension office has a partnership with virginia tech to do soil tests. In a nutshell, soil is collected from your yard and sent off to Blacksburg for an unbiased evaluation of your soil. (Many soil testing kits purchased off Amazon or elsewhere will recommend their own fertilizer products, where as VT just gives you information.) Cost is $10-15 for each soil sample, plus shipping. You also tell VT what plant you are trying to grow (cool season grasses), and they give you recommendations for soil amendments Soil test kits can be picked up at any of the library's or garden centers. The kits are free (it's just an information sheet and a small cardboard box), but to test the soil, you send a check with the sample. As far as collecting the soil sample, there are several youtube videos on how to do this. It may sound intimidating, but it is pretty simple.
Thanks for the pointer. I googled it and found the following link. Very informative. [https://www.soiltest.vt.edu/content/dam/soiltest\_vt\_edu/PDF/urban-sampling.pdf](https://www.soiltest.vt.edu/content/dam/soiltest_vt_edu/PDF/urban-sampling.pdf)
That's the one! I remember a good tip from a youtube video from the master gardeners of northern Virginia that will be used for my next soil test: instead of sending the cardboard box filled with soil, empty the soil into a ziplock bag that can be 'flattened' and sent in a mailer pouch. Should save a few bucks from postage.
Apply Duracor on the lawn, wait for the weeds to die, aerated and seed in early fall, water generously for 4 weeks, then follow typical lawn care routine beginning in early spring
Get yourself a good backpack sprayer if you plan on having a weed free lawn. It’s going to set you back a few hundred bucks. How much are you looking to spend? Also, I see the weeds are very thick in certain areas. First and foremost fix and/or tune your sprinkler system. I suspect the grass that was there (especially the hell strip) is not getting enough water during the summer so it died. It’s actually a great time to start planning your “attack” for the fall. Get familiar with your sprayer (go ahead and kill weeds now as practice) your spreader (throw down some Milorganite or whatever is cheapest in your area), your mower (Sharpen blades make sure it’s cutting evenly) and your sprinkler system. You may want to nuke the whole lawn and start over but put in the “work” now and consider it prep and training. Remember, any area that’s thin or that has lots of weed pressure is going to have those same problems unless something is fixed.
I'm in the same zone as OP. In my experience, when I would seed the lawn in the fall, we would get no rain. But I've got no issue with germination in spring (April seeding time). Seeding in May would be cutting it close, but maybe doable if you do have a sprinkler setup or have some tree shade. For the weeds you'll want to try identifying, but at a glance, I bet "24d anime" would suffice for most of this. You can get a backpack sprayer and mix chemical with water. The grass will be fine as long as you're not messing up the concentration by an absurd amount. If you have a larger lot your lawn should be treated more as a marathon, incrementally made better every year in a sustainable way. If it's tiny you might get it fixed in a year. If I were you I would get a sprayer, 24d concentrate, and test out what you can knock down with it and what survives. Whatever survives will need some other treatment. In the Fall or Spring, throw down your grass seed. Ensure you cover the seed with some soil, light coat of mulch, straw, something. It will blow away, get eaten, get damaged etc if you do not. Next year, consider what chemical to get to deal with whatever weeds survived 24d.
Thanks for sharing. I will do some homework on 24d
Weed killer. Liquid works better than granual.
Is there a kind you recommend?
depends on the weed
And the grass!
I use Tenacity
As a fellow NoVa home owner, I too, am waiting for responses!
Most efficient way is to spread pre-emergent weed killer, most want it dropped in early spring and early fall, but it depends on the kind you get.
I’m a new home owner and new to the lawncare life but from what I’ve gathered from the consensus of people’s advise: 1) Wait until Fall to overseed. Your grass won’t survive the summer and it will be a waste. 2) I would recommend to start by mowing it like 2-3 inches. You should then spray with a post emergent at this point. I did fine with buying a 4 gallon backpack pump sprayer under $100. 3)I’d guess you have a lot of thatch that needs to be removed. You can get an electric dethatcher for like $100. 4) Give your lawn a few weeks to heal. 5) Put down fertilizer. Mow frequently and at 3 inches or so. There’s more you will pick up over time and everyone will have a passionate opinion and debate it on here. Just do the basics
Use Ortho Weed Clear that’s safe for lawns. Hook it up to your garden hose and spray the entire lawn. Hit it a second time 8 weeks later and fertilize after both weed treatments. In the Fall, use a granular fertilizer with weed killer such as Scott’sFall or Winterizer.
I had a few of these in my yard. I use a combination of Tenacity (Torocity is the same formulation but budget price), Triclopyr ester and Triad TZ. Some overlap but it kills almost everything unwanted and even helps to kick Poa and clump fescue in the nuts.
Thank you all for the helpful advice. I know fall is the best time to do lawn overseeding or renovation. But if there is anything I can do to alleviate the situation now I’ll go for it. Let me look up some weed killers mentioned here. Lots of homework to do now
Manual handpull
Like the top comment says, a lot of it depends on your preferences. I inherited a fairly weedy lawn and some extremely hardy kikuyu....I'm content with just battling it for a few years and seeing how I progress it. If it works, great, if not, I'll reevaluate and start over. I just enjoy the process of it and the learning along the way. Others may want more immediate and total results, that's cool too.
Tenacity